New Dance Partner News

People En Espanol has named New York Red Bulls forward Juan Pablo Angel as one of the 10 Sexiest Men in the United States! Who can argue?

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I will be the first to admit that I have never been a fan of Marcelo Balboa when he is in the commentators roll for USA television broadcasts. He is so bland and obvious it just pains me. Therefore I had been avoiding his radio show From The Pitch which he does in Denver and is mostly Colorado Rapids influenced. But last night I decided to download the podcast of this weeks show and was pleasantly surprised. He had some bite to him and a touch of wit. Not too much unfortunately, but more than I expected. The best part though was his guests and the direct questions he asked. This week he had New England assistant coach Paul Mariner, former USA & MLS keeper Tony Meola, and Colorado defender Kosuke Kimura who not only made his professional debut last Saturday, but is also the first Japanese to ever play in MLS. So I am here by endorsing the show and will be tuning in more often. Check it out now.

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Nearly 33,000 were on hand in Kansas City last night to see their Wizards take on David B****** (and 10 other guys too). But the man was injured, so he was not there. And as it turned out even a healthy B****** would not have been at the game seeing as his father suffered a heart attack the day before in London. That attendance number is a KC Wiz records crowd.

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Those Mexican's love their Morrissey. Especially Chivas USA fans. (thanks Alex)


USL First Division Final
-Sat Sep 29
Seattle v Atlanta
-See it live at 9pm central on Fox Soccer Channel
Match preview by Bill Urban at the US Soccer Players Assoc.
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USL First Division has announced their yearly awards:
-Sebastian Le Toux of Seattle is the Most Valuable Player
-Gavin Wilkinson of Portland is the Coach Of The Year (even though he wines a little too much for my liking)
-Jay Needham of Puerto Rico is the Rookie Of The Year
-David Hayes of Atlanta is the Defender Of The Year
Why is there no award for Forward, Midfielder or Goalkeeper of the year?
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MLS
Matches & scores:
-Thu Sep 27
Kansas City 0-1 Los Angeles - goal by Gavin Glinton.
Match report by Bob Luder of the KC Star.
Post-game (mostly B******) notes also by Luder.
-Sat Sep 29
DC v Toronto - 6:30pm central on HDNet
New England v Columbus - 6:30pm central on Direct Kick
New York v Salt Lake - 6:30pm central on FSC & FSE
Chivas v Chicago - 9:30pm central on Direct Kick
-Sun Sep 30
Dallas v Houston - 2pm central on TeleFutura
Columbus v Los Angeles - 4pm central on Direct Kick & HDNet
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Two different Kansas City players were Red Carded last night for fouls on LA's Pete Vagenas. First Jimmy Conrad came in studs up and then Davy Arnaud came in real hard from the side with spikes showing too. I don't think I have ever seen that before.
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Chris Gbandi of Dallas is the only players suspended this weekend, it was due to a Red Card he received last Sunday.
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MLS Underground is reporting that AEG is very close to selling the Houston Dynamo. Very few details.
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3 key Houston players who have been injured for a while, Paul Dalgish, Brad Davis & Stuart Holden, all saw action this week in a 1-1 Reserve Team tie with Toronto.
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The Boston Herald reports that New England expects forward Taylor Twellman to be ready to play on Saturday. He came out of the game last weekend in New York in the dying seconds with a tweak of a groin muscle.
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Buzz Carrick from the 3rd Degree attended a recent FC Dallas practice session, and these are his observations.
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Ives Galarcep has a New York Red Bulls practice report on his blog, Soccer By Ives.
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Chicago will play a friendly against Cruz Azul at Toyota Park on Wed Oct 10.
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The Deseret Morning News looks at the past fortunes of Real Salt Lakes trips to New York.
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John Meyer of the Denver Post writes about Colorado's stretch run trying to make the playoffs.
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Dean McNulty of the Toronto Sun looks at the final weeks of Toronto FC's tough first season in MLS.
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The New York Times Goal blog has an article on how MLS teams have faired against foreign clubs this season. The focus of the story is DC United who currently 5-1-2 against foreign clubs this year.
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George Tanner of FC Rocky from the Rocky Mountain News with his weekly notes from around the footballing world.
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I stumbled upon this fascinating memo from US Soccer to referees describing the Red Card given to Colorado defender Facundo Erpen 2 weeks ago. He clipped Laurent Merlin of Chivas USA from behind on the edge of the penalty box, so he was tossed out and a penalty kick was awarded. Many disagreed with the call. I thought it happened outside the box and that Erpen was not the last defender, so he should not be Red Carded. This says otherwise. Interesting
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The latest pictures from the building of the Real Salt Lake stadium. It's moving fast!
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The Seattle Times says the announcement of any MLS team in their city is premature. Then they run a big story with the potential owner where he talks about his dreams. I do find it pretty sad though that his current team is going to play for another First Division title on Saturday night and he is off talking to people about MLS.
-Conde Nast Portfolio.com says another of the lesser partners behind the Seattle deal is Paul Allen. Yes, him.
-Jonah Freedman of Sports Illustrated re-confirms the Seattle to MLS story.
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Copa Sudamericana Quarterfinals
Second Leg (with first leg scores included):
-Tue Oct 2
Guadalajara Chivas v DC United (1-2)
-Wed Oct 3
America v Pachuca (4-1)
-Thu Oct 4
El Nacional v Defensor Sporting (0-3)
Colo Colo v Millonarios (1-1)
-The following teams have now advanced to the semifinals: Vasco de Gama, Sao Paulo, Arsenal (who awaits the winner of DC v Chivas) & River Plate. 4 more to go now.
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DC United beats Chivas, so what do the Goats do, they fire their coach. Chepo de la Torre is out (fired by his own brother Nestor!!!), and Efrain Flores is in.
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Luis Bueno At Sports Illustrated writes about the hottest team in Mexico right now - Santos Laguna. Santos take on Jaguares de Chiapas this weekend - see it live at 5pm Saturday on Azteca America.
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Pretty good looking Mexican League game on Sunday:
America v Cruz Azul - 6:30pm central onTeleFutura
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Greg Seltzer of American Soccer Daily talks to USA & Heerenveen midfielder Michael Bradley about his confidence and amazing run of goal scoring for his club.
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The Evening Times of Glasgow talk to our man DaMarcus Beasley about his run so far at Rangers and that big derby a few weeks away.
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The Fulham website talks to American keeper Kasey Keller. Keller says he came to Fulham to earn the starting job! And many other things.
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Martin Rogers of Yahoo Sports writes about the amazing fact that 4 Americans are on the payroll of one team in the Premiership of England & several more play regularly for other teams. (Fulham take on Chelsea this weekend.)
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The great ESPN soccer commentator Derek Rae writes for Soccernet about the USA Women's fall from grace, and the Barcelona magician Lionel Messi.
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Montenegro club Zeta were fined 30,000 Swiss francs by UEFA after being found guilty of their fans making racist chants toward Rangers players American DaMarcus Beasley and Frenchman Jean-Claude Darceville during a Champions League game. Sadly this is only about $4500.
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Some really whiny dude from the Guardian joins the line of people (sorry, the cue) with a ready excuse for when England lose in Russia next month - it's the artificial pitch.
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Gianluca Zambrotta of Italy & Barcelona will miss a month or so due to a torn thigh muscle.
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The Times of London with a story on Sunderland coach and Man U legend Roy Keane, who has changed from a Madman into Cool Hand Luke.
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Big Eurocentric matches this weekend:
-Sat Sep 29
Roma v Inter Milan
Bayer Leverkusen v Bayern Munich
Benfica v Sporting
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Don't forget that the Champions League Matchday 2 hits us next Tuesday & Wednesday! Hooray Beer.